At this week\’s MLB Winter Meetings, there has already been a big announcement, but it does not revolve around a potential trade. Peter Gammons released a statement yesterday afternoon stating that he will be leaving ESPN in a week or so after his 20 years with the company. Gammons claimed he wants to move on to other career endeavors, which we have now learned is NESN and the MLB Network.
After Gammons gave the sports world a scare in June of 2006 when he had a brain aneurysm burst and he was rushed into surgery, his air time at ESPN has been limited. It has been obvious to the Gammons faithful that he was at full health and wanted to be back on the air, but ESPN would not return him to his usual work load one he returned.
The Hall of Fame reporter Peter Gammons has been in the sports media world for over 40 years. He started writing for the Boston Globe in 1969 and had a brief 3-year stint with Sports Illustrated as their lead baseball columnist from 1976-78. The Globe called Gammons back and he stayed there until 1986 when Sports Illustrated called him back. While Gammons was still writing for Sports Illustrated, ESPN called him and asked him to be a studio broadcaster for Baseball Tonight. Since 1988, Gammons has been a knowledgeable, calm voice, who never tried to hide being a hardcore Red Sox fan who grew up outside of Boston.
Being a Red Sox fan, I feel Gammons is finally back home, literally and figuratively. Living on Cape Cod, Gammons now works closer to home and for a team that he has so passionately covered, through print and TV, for decades. Gammons leaving ESPN is a loss to the national baseball community, but a win for Red Sox fans around the country. Thank you Peter Gammons for all you have contributed and will contribute to the sports media world.
I'm curious to hear what happened at ESPN… did Gammons leave on his own or was he pushed out? I'm thrilled to have him more local… but I feel like there's more to this story.
I'm not sure if that true story will ever come out, because Peter is such a classy guy and won't call anyone out. He left on his own, but most certainly because ESPN wasn't giving him what he wanted. He is still sharp as a tack, and they were treating him as if he had lost his ability to analyse and report.
I agree with Brian that it's nice to have him move to a more Boston-centic job. But as someone who doesn't get NESN and relies on ESPN this is very sad. I'll miss him.